Repeal the loyalty law that lets party leaders strip members of their affiliation.

Any resident of voting age can be a member of the political party she chooses, right? Apparently not in Connecticut.

According to an obscure, decades-old state law, people can be stripped of their party membership, meaning they won't be able to vote in primary elections, which are open only to party members.

This backdoor method of disenfranchisement is unfair and should be repealed — something Secretary of the State Denise Merrill is trying to do. She has submitted draft language to a legislative committee, which has until Feb. 19 to raise a bill.

Under the law, a municipal registrar of voters may consult with a political party chairman to determine whether the party member has been disloyal — or, in the words of the statute, has a "lack of good-faith party affiliation."

If the two agree, the person's party membership may be canceled.

The issue has arisen in Brookfield. In 2013, Jane Miller, a registered Republican for 10 years and incumbent on the town board of education, wasn't renominated by the GOP for her seat. So she registered as unaffiliated to run for a vacant Democratic slot on the board of finance, but lost. She soon switched her affiliation back to Republican.

In 2015, the Republican registrar agreed with the local head of the GOP that Ms. Miller should lose her party affiliation — although the Republican town committee was against the move, according to Brookfield Patch. Two male Republicans who switched affiliation to run as Democrats escaped similar punishment.

The two GOP leaders are denying Ms. Miller the chance to vote in the coming presidential primary as a Republican. She has filed suit in federal court and is represented by former Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz, who says the courts have struck down similar laws in Rhode Island, Louisiana and Illinois.

Political parties are vital to the electoral process: They operate the machinery for choosing candidates. To strip an individual of party membership is to create a major impediment to that person's right to vote. It can't be done for petty reasons.

Also, public election officials — registrars of voters — should not be involved in determining whether someone is pure enough to merit party membership.